After 6 years in the profession, I simply knew I needed a change. There are elements of the job that I loved, but as I progressed in life I realized the sustainability just wasn't there in the fitness world. We're all searching for that delicate balance between mobility and stability in our lives in and outside the gym. As I progressed in life, the stability aspect became more important. I wasn't getting that from my fitness career. I could have branched out and started my own business , but I knew that wasn't what I wanted. It was time to put on my big boy pants and make a change for myself and my family's future. I'm confident I made the right decision.
Fitness is something I'm passionate about, so I'll still stay involved in a part time capacity through the blog and distance coaching. In fact, I'm pretty excited about being able to be selective about whom I work with, as opposed to needing to take on anyone because I need to pay the bills. I'll enjoy it more this way.
Now that I have that announcement out of the way, I can talk about some of the observations I've made over last few weeks in corporate culture. Considering where I've come from, utter shock pretty much sums it up. People going out to lunch every day and all the utter garbage present in the break room in the form of donuts, bagels, chips, and soda for starters. Temptation is everywhere. Pair up being relatively sedentary with putting all kinds of shit in your body and you have a recipe for disaster.
Taking all this into consideration, I thought I'd present my thoughts on a few strategies I'll be employing for surviving such circumstances. These are things I've been preaching for years to all my clients, but now am forced to practice them myself. At first I thought it would be hard, but honestly it's been incredibly easy. It all comes down to planning and consistency.
1. Train Early
Waking up at 5am pretty much every day for the last 6 years has converted me into a morning person. I find early hours of daylight are the most productive and exciting time of day. Thus, I have been waking up at 5 to get to the gym and train before work. The first few days were tough, but now I love it. The feeling of accomplishment gained from this sets the tone for the rest of my day. Everything seems better after you move around lift heavy shit.
Yesterday I was talking with an old client of mine whom I trained in the early morning for years. He pointed out the most powerful armies in the world train at the crack of dawn. I think there's a lesson to be learned here.
If you've been contemplating training early, just make up your mind and do it. Here are a few strategies to set yourself up for success:
- Set the coffee pot to auto-brew before you go to bed. It saves time and there's nothing like waking up to some fresh go-juice for your pre-workout. On that note I feel pre-workout drinks are over-rated. They are usually full of a bunch of junk anyway. Throw a scoop of protein powder in your morning coffee, and you have all you need.
- If you struggle with eating breakfast early in the morning, try eating some more carbs before bed. The glycogen stored in your muscles isn't going anywhere while you sleep and will be readily available for the next morning's training session.
- Pack your gym bag, food and anything else you need for the next day before bed or as soon as you get home from work. Then you can just grab and go.
2. Get to Bed Early
I often say I'm pretty much useless after dark. When the sun sets, its time for me to start shutting down. I've never understood the people who could stay up past midnight every night of the week. By now I think we all know 7-9 hours of sleep each night is the ideal range for optimal recovery and overall health. If you are training early in the morning, you should be in bed by 10 pm.
Furthermore, what most don't realize is the implications of when that sleep occurs matters just as much as the quantity. As a general rule of thumb, one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight.
Here are a few sleep strategies:
- Develop a bedtime routine.
- Stowe away all electronic devices 30 mins before getting into bed.
- Knock out 10 deep diaphragmatic breaths before getting into bed. This promotes recovery, decreases sympathetic tone (calms your nerves), and grooves a proper breathing pattern.
- Find a good book and read for 20 minutes before you go to sleep.
- Try using a white noise machine or downloading a white noise app. A fan works too.
- Supplementing with melatonin or ZMA can help.
For a breakdown of some more recent research on sleep check out this article.
3. Pack Your Lunch Every. Single. Day.
As I said before, temptation is everywhere. I'm shocked at how few people I see actually pack a lunch.
Maybe this is a function of how I grew up. When I was a kid, my mom packed our lunches every. single. day. I never ate a cafeteria lunch (with the exception of the occasional pizza day of course) until I was well into high school. I guess old habits die hard. Thanks mom! All you parents out there could learn a thing or two from Mrs. Chapman.
Packing your food every day is also incredibly more cost effective. Imagine how much money you would save in the course of the year by eating out less. Having your own food obviously gives you more control over what you put in your body and reduces the likelihood you will eat shit food when you are hungry.
I follow one rule; If its not in the lunchbox, don't eat it.
And some strategies for packing your food:
- Have quick snacks ready to go. Make Sunday a food prep day.
- Cut up a bunch of raw veggies and put them in the fridge.
- Grill a large quantity of meat when making Sunday dinner. Now you have extra for the week.
- Keep staples like nuts, jerky, and fruit well stocked.
- As mentioned in #1, pack the next day's food before bed.
- Occasionally reward yourself and head out to lunch with co-workers. You need to live a little after all.
These strategies will help all of you stay on track while managing a full time workload. So much of success revolves around having a plan and developing a routine. Stay true to yourself and never lose sight of what matters.
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